YOUNG OFFICER SHOT DEAD ON DRUG RAID CALLED HERO

Ron Jones Was Son Of Prentiss Police Chief

PRENTISS - Police Officer Ron Jones devoted himself to stopping the
flow of drugs in this city of about 1,500 people where his father is
police chief, the city's mayor said Thursday.

That devotion led to his shooting death about midnight Wednesday
while attempting to serve a warrant.

"We're deeply saddened," Mayor Charley Dumas said. "This is a small
community. I have known Ron all my life."

Jones, 29, the son of Police Chief Ronald Jones, was shot once in the
abdomen while he and members of a south Mississippi drug task force
were serving a search warrant seeking drugs at a duplex less than a
mile from the police department.

"Ron is a hero," Jefferson Davis County Sheriff Henry McCullum said.
"He was very committed and dedicated to serving and protecting the
citizens of this county.

"We all are very sad and our sympathy goes out to the Prentiss Police
Department and Chief Jones and his family," McCullum said.

Cory Maye, 21, one of three people at the duplex at 1728 Mary St. at
the time of the shooting, is charged with capital murder in the
officer's death.

Jones was wearing a bulletproof vest, but a small-caliber bullet
struck him in the abdomen, just below the vest, Dumas said, citing
information from the coroner.

Police Chief Jones and his family were distraught over the younger
Jones' death, Dumas said.

Dumas, who spoke on behalf of the Jones family, said he was not sure
how the shooting unfolded, but was told that officers first tried to
enter the duplex from the front. He said they then apparently went to
the back.

After the officers announced their presence, Jones was the first of
about eight officers to enter the duplex, Dumas said.

Gunfire erupted between Maye and the officers, and Ron Jones was hit,
authorities said. He died while being rushed to the hospital in a
police car, authorities said.

The two other people in the duplex, one a juvenile, were taken into
custody, but later were let go. Their names were not released.

No charges had been filed against them as of Thursday, McCullum said.

Maye was the only one of the three shooting, McCullum said.

No drugs were found at the yellow duplex, which authorities said Maye
rented. The duplex, adorned with a Christmas wreath on the door,
Christmas lights and a small bike on the porch, was cordoned off by
police tape.

Jones was a K-9 officer on the city force of five full-time officers.

Fellow officers wore black tape across their badges in memory of
their fallen comrade. Also, the community mourned the four-year
officer's death.

"It's upsetting to everyone," said Louise Horning, who knew Jones and
lived across the street from the duplex where the officer was shot.

"He was a nice, sweet officer who was trying so hard to do away with
drugs in this area," Horning said.

Candice Thomas, an employee of Palace Discount Drugstore, said she
was shocked when she heard what happened to Ron Jones.

"It was awful," Thomas said. "They (law enforcement officers) have a
bad job, but somebody has to do it. He loved his job."

Maye made an initial court appearance in Jefferson Davis County
Justice Court Thursday afternoon. Justice Court Judge Jerry Dyess
ordered Maye held without bond and set a preliminary hearing for Jan.
24.

Dyess also appointed attorney Robert Evans of Monticello to represent
Maye, who is being held in the Forrest Court Jail.

McCullum said he requested that Maye be held in the Forrest County
Jail because it is more secure than his jail and would be better for
Maye's own protection. Earlier this month, three accused murderers
escaped from the Jefferson Davis County Jail.

McCullum said, based on his research, Maye has no felony convictions,
only traffic violations.

The district attorney's office and the Mississippi Highway Safety
Patrol are investigating the shooting.

Services were incomplete late Thursday for Ron Jones, who is survived
by his parents and a twin brother.